1977, led to a Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure chaired by Sir Cyril Philips, which reported in 1981. The Royal Commission recommended changes to the investigation and prosecution of criminal offences, and that the decision to prosecute should be taken out of the hands of the police and given to an independent body in charge of Crown prosecutions. The government accepted the report. After consultation, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) was enacted to formalise the existing Judges Rules, and the Crown Prosecution Service was created in 1986 under the terms of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, with Hetherington as its first head until he retired in 1987. Later life In 1989, shortly after his retirement, he co-wrote the Hetherington-Chalmers Report with former Scottish Crown agent William Chalmers, which examined ways to prosecute suspected war criminals living in Britain for "crimes of murder, manslaughter or genocide committed in Germany and in territories occupied by German forces during the Second World War," over which British courts did not then have jurisdiction. The report followed a 15-month inquiry in which allegations against 301 suspects were investigated. The report's recommendations led two years later to the War Crimes Act 1991, which was passed over objections of the House of Lords using the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949. He suffered from a degenerative neurological illness in later life. He was survived by his wife, the former June Catliff, whom he married in 1953, and their four daughters. References External links Obituary, The Times, 30 March 2007 Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 30 March 2007 Obituary, The Guardian, 2 April 2007 Obituary, The Independent, 6 April 2007] 1926 births 2007 deaths Members of the Inner Temple British barristers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Lawyers awarded knighthoods People educated at Rugby School British King's Counsel Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford People from Dumfries and Galloway Neurological disease deaths in the United Kingdom Deaths from motor neuron disease Royal Artillery officers Directors of Public Prosecutions (England and Wales) 20th-century English lawyers 20th-century British Army personnel